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Period: Jan 1, 1492 to
Timeline
This timeline will show what I have learned in US History: VHS Summer course. It will document what I believe to be the most important events/ideas spanning from 1492-1877. -
Starving Time
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The "Starving Time" was during the winter of 1609-1610 and I classified it as an event because it caused a reaction. The colonists were vain and spent their time looking for gold rather than preparing food for the winter. Disease and hunger overtook Jamestown but still the colonists kept coming. The colony was declared bankrupt and its charter was revoked, it became the first royal colony in America. -
First Meeting of the House of Burgesses
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The House of Burgesses was the first legislative assembly in the American colonies. Burgesses were elected representatives and the assembly met once a year despite dissapproval from the King. This assembly is so influential because, as a result, each new English colony demanded their own legislature. It was the beginning of democracy. -
The Boston Massacre
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The Boston Massacre was a tragic event that occurred when an American mob intimidated British soldiers. One soldier heard the command to fire from the crowd and, in confusion, shot causing a reaction that led to the deaths of five men. John Adams was the lawyer for the soldiers and this sparked his involvement with the Revolution. It also made it clear to the Americans that the British would resort to using force if necessary. -
Nationalism
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Extreme patriotic feeling, principles, or efforts marked by a feeling of superiority over other countries. An advocacy of political independence from a particular country. -
Melting Pot
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Melting pot: a country, locality, or situation in which a blending of races, peoples, or cultures is taking place. -
1783 Treaty of Paris
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The Treaty of Paris of 1783 marked the end of the Revolutionary War. Britain agreed to recognize American independence as far West as the Mississippi River. The impossible had been achieved, and America was free at last. -
Ratification of the Constitution
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The ratification of the Constitution was an important step in American history. It sparked nationalism, the supporters were called "nationalists", and introduced what would evolve into political parties. The Federalists and the Anti-Federalists had opposing views on a strong central government. They eventually came to a compromise when the Bill of Rights was created to appease the Anti-Federalists and the Constitution was ratified. -
Farewell Address
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George Washington's Farewell Address is the guide to American political purpose. It includes Washington's core beliefs and is still valued today. It explains why Washington stepped down from power and warns against what he believed to be the two biggest threats to the country: political parties and foreign involvement. -
The Second Great Awakening
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The Second Great Awakening sparked spiritual and cultural reform in America. It was a fundamental transition that emphasized free will and the human condition. The United States became a deeply protestant nation, and there were more public roles for women and african-americans. It has also been argued that this Awakening laid the foundation for the future Transcendentalism era. -
The Underground Railroad
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The Underground Railroad was not a literal railroad, it was a series of activists that helped slaves escape to their freedom in the North. Composed of "stations", aka homes and chuches, abolitionists helped to transport slaves at night. It is estimated over 100,000 slaves escaped.The "conductors" of the Underground Railroad took big risks themselves, as aiding the slaves was considered stealing and slave hunters were very common. -
Trail of Tears
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After Jackson ignored the supreme court ruling in Cherokee Indians vs. Georgia that ruled with the Native Americans, 20,000 Cherokees were marched Westward at gunpoint. Nearly a quarter of them perished along the way. This genocide was one of the most horrifying things Jackson did as President. -
Nat Turner's Slave Revolt
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Nat Turner was a slave who managed to organize 70 other slaves to go from plantation to plantation and murder white men, women, and children. This slave revolt was a shocking event; unlike others, Turner had actually succeeded in killing a large amount of white southerners. Slaveholders responded by creating stricter slave patrols and slave codes. -
Transcendentalism
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transcendentalism: an idealistic philosophical and social movement that developed in New England around 1836 in reaction to rationalism. Influenced by romanticism, Platonism, and Kantian philosophy, it taught that divinity pervades all nature and humanity, and its members held progressive views on feminism and communal living. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau were central figures. -
Manifest Destiny
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Manifest Destiny: the 19th-century doctrine or belief that the expansion of the US throughout the American continents was both justified and inevitable. -
Seneca Falls Convention
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The Seneca Falls Convention was the first women's rights convention ever held in the United States. Women were beginning to demand equality, and even wanted to change to Declaration of Independence to include "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights..." This was the beginning of the women's suffrage movement. -
The Compromise of 1850
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The Compromise of 1850 admitted California as a free state, banned slave trade in Washington D.C., and was in favor of New Mexico in the land dispute with Texas. However, it also permitted slaveholding in Washington D.C., gave Texas 10 million dollars, and passed the fugitive slave law. The Compromise of 1850 discredited the Missouri Compromise completely with the introduction of the fugitive slave law. -
The Emancipation Proclamation
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Lincoln decided to issue the Emancipation Proclamation, effective January 1, 1863. Unless the Confederate States returned to the Union by that day, he proclaimed their slaves "shall be then, thenceforward and forever free." Although the Emancipation Proclamation didn't free any slaves directly, since the slaves he was freeing were not in his control, it showed that the end of slavery was an important goal of the war. -
Reconstruction
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Reconstruction: the efforts made in the United States between 1865 and 1877 to restructure the political, legal, and economic systems in the states that had seceded from the Union. -
The Assasination of Lincoln
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The Assasination of Lincoln was a tragic event that occured shortly after the North's victory in the Civil War. Lincoln had introdced great chage to the country with the abolition of slavery along with other idea. He was shot by John Wilkes Booth while at a play, and died the next day. He was the first president to be assasinated. -
Andrew Johnson Impeached
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Andrew Johnson became the first president to be impeached on May 16, 1868. Johnson opposed the Reconstruction Act and tried to remove the man in charge of enforcing it. This was a direct violation of the Tenure of Office Act and 9 articles of impeachment resulted from this move. Johnson was able to serve out the remainder of his term since there was no vice president.
